EAGLE -- Some families in Eagle came very close to also losing everything in Wednesday’s Highway 16 fire.
Some amazing stories have emerged about the lengths some people went to to protect property and even lives.
Former firefighter Jeff Smith just happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right tool.
He almost didn't make it through the heavy police perimeter, but when some officials saw his front-end loader, they knew it could be put to good use.
While many people tried to get away from the fire, Smith forged toward it.
"I just think it was what you should do if you happen to be the one that has the front-end loader in the neighborhood and I happen to have it," Smith said.
The front-end loader, left over from his days as the owner of a local stone company, was put into motion.
While firefighters attacked the fire on the west end, Smith worked to the east, predicting correctly it would eventually come that way.
"If we couldn't stop it where it was, my home and the ones behind me were the next to go," he said.
For several hours, the former firefighter made dirt paths through the hills to prevent flames from crossing over and burning more.
At one point, he noticed flames at the home of his friend Ed Camp.
"The smoke was so thick. I literally, I couldn't see, and I barely made it back into that door," said Camp.
Camp's daughter's car, which was bought just two weeks ago, was engulfed by flames.
And Smith knew if he didn't do something about it those flames would consume Camp's home.
"The car was burning and blew up, and the paint was bubbling on the house just burst into those flames that start rolling just as I got there. So the loader I was able to push the cars away from the house and put dirt on the house," said Smith.
Camp says no doubt about it -- Smith came to his rescue.
"This was after it pretty much swept through, but it was still burning, and he came up, because the car was on fire, and the shed. You can see, by him pushing that over he kept that fire away from the house," said Camp.
"You can replace your car, you can replace your barn, but try and replace your household and everything inside of it? The photo albums, you know, you can't ever replace that," said Smith.
"I think, pretty lucky. When I was running down that hallway, and all our family pictures are on the wall, I thought, this is close, but the house is still standing. It's remarkable. I mean, honestly I thought it was gone. I told my wife it's all gone, and as the smoke started clearing, there's the roof line. It's remarkable really to me," said Camp.
"A machine like this could do a lot of good in a very short time, which it did," said Smith.
There were times when Smith felt like he was in danger, like when parts on his front end loader would start to smoke, but he kept going.
And Smith was supposed to be out of town Wednesday. He just happened to miss his flight.
